No Good Nick (Part 3)

Part 7

*5 days after the last chapter*

It had been 26 days since Nick had been brought home from the bus station. Somehow in the midst of the 26 days Nick hadn't had a single moment alone with Ed. She had talked with him yes, eaten with him, been with him during the Thompson's family poker night.... but never alone.

That was until the afternoon of day 26.

It was around 6:30 pm. Molly was with her study group at the library, Jeremey out hanging out with Eric. Liz was working a late night at the restaurant.

That left Nick and Ed. Jeremey had been the last one to leave the house, and at first when he left it had been a bit awkward and quiet. Half joking, Nick suggested Ed could teach her how to make a pepper sculpture.

Of course, sweet Ed took it 100% seriously and 10 minutes later, Nick was set up with him in his office. Ed was going over all his tools and gadgets and explaining what each one did. Nick was extremely confused, but smiled, nodded, and kept listening to the best of her ability.

"Alrighty," Ed was saying, handing Nick a sheet of paper and pencil, "so what you want to do first is to sketch out your idea first. I would recommend something simple like a mountain range, or a name... just something relatively simple without a bunch of small parts."

"Hm, right. Okay," Nick said, trying to imagine something. She settled with the mountain range, not wanting to do something extremely difficult.

She began to sketch out out the range, Ed watching and smiling, as he gave her some tips on what she could do with it.

He then showed her how to start cutting it out in the book, and the two worked on her first sculpture in an old children's book that Molly had growing up.

Half an hour later, Nick had a decent mountain paper sculpture with cartoons princess and deer littering them. She laughed at the oddness of it and the messy cutting job she had done.

Ed gave her a fist bump. "Not bad Nick. I can tell you my first paper sculpture was way worse."

"Well, I'm sure you didn't have a master paper sculpture teaching you," she laughed, not noticing how Ed smiled at the compliment.

"Well, I think this deserves a celebration. I think I saw Liz make some lemonade earlier. Shall we journey to the fridge?" Ed said.

Nick laughed at his goofiness and together the two put down their tools and they walked to the kitchen. They walked in and as Nick got out two glasses, Ed took the pitcher of lemonade out of the fridge. He poured both of them a glass. 

"Cheers," he said, and the two clicked glasses before drinking. Nick chugged down the lemonade, not realizing how thirsty she had been.

"Nick," he said and Nick could tell this was going to be the beginning of some heartfelt conversation.

Why do these keep happening? And in the kitchen? Didn't I just do this with Liz?

"Yeah?" she said back, downing the rest of her lemonade.

"I'm sorry," Ed said softly. Nick slowly lowered her glass, watching Ed fiddle with a button on his jacket.

"W-what? What are you sorry for?"

"I'm sorry about that day at the police station. Where I so easily ratted you to the cops. You're a kid, I'm a full-grown adult, you think I'd be able to handle that situation better, right? Apparently not," he said, smiling sheepishly at Nick. Guilt behind a friendly smile.

"It's fine, really. I get why you did it. I was some random teenager who had been living with you for months, stealing from you, and gotten you arrested. Honestly, I probably would have done the same," she said back. 

Nick had already forgiven the Thompsons a long time ago, and she knew they had forgiven her by now too. She was ready to leave it behind.

She got up to refill her glass.

Ed cleared his throat. "You know... the day that it happened.... we said we wanted to adopt you?"

Nick froze, fingers brushing against the pitcher of lemonade.

"Y-yes?" she whispered as if she was too afraid to speak loudly, afraid to shatter the dome around her. She had known the Thompsons had wanted to adopt her, but now? After everything? She knew full well that they had forgiven her, that they were going to look out for her. But adopt her? This was something else. 

"We... we want to adopt you still Nick. We know you've been through tough times, and have made some mistakes, but we still want you. We want to be able to support and help you through all of this. We want you."

We want you. Nick couldn't remember the last time she had heard those words... other than when they said they had wanted to adopt her before Ed got arrested, but she wasn't sure if that counted since she ruined it all an hour later. 

Hadn't Sam and Dorthy said that to her once? Yes, when it was one of their most dangerous missions, getting a kid inside one of the high West End houses. They had come to Nick saying those exact words... we want you. 

"We want you to get in there, knock em' all out like we always do. If you do this right kid, we'll have a couple thousand to split tonight." Sam had said, telling Nick the plans as they drove in the car.

Nick had never liked stealing, but she did it because she had to. This one through, this one seemed like too much. Too much could go wrong, she could get hurt, she could mess up...who knew.

"What if I don't?" she had asked. "What if I don't do it?" 

Sam had fixed her with a glare in his review mirror. "I'm sick of you acting like this Nick. You'll do as we say or there will be consequences you'll regret. For you and your dad. How about that?"

She had glared back but shut her mouth. She did the job that night and regretted every second of it. Sam and Dorthy had taken most of the cash, it had been less than they expected and they were upset over that. Nick had kept her mouth shut after that, but had silently learned 2 lessons that day. Not to disagree with them, and to make sure she got an equal cut from then on.

Nick shivered, surprised by the sudden memory she thought she had suppressed. Ed was staring at her. 

"A-are you okay Nick? You kinda just, froze?" He walked over to her, taking her hands. "Okay?"

"Uh...yeah I'm fine. Sorry... I think I was just surprised..." her voice trailed off and she looked up at Ed and smiled.

"You want me? You really want me?"

"Yes Nick, we do. Only if you want to stay though. I know things are complicated since... your dad..." his voice trailed off, but he gave her hands a comforting squeeze.

Her dad...

She heard her voice before she even registered that she was speaking.

"I'll talk to him. I...I need to talk to him anyway. A-after everything.... we need to talk."

She felt like she was watching herself speak from outside of her body, her tongue felt like molasses, her brain foggy. Was she actually signing up to go see her dad? Hadn't she promised to never see him again?

Ed too looked surprised but nodded his head in agreement. "Okay. I can take you after school sometime?"

"Tomorrow... please. I need to do this."

 ***

Hey everyone!

Thanks for reading :)

So I know these have all been like fillers so sorry if you've gotten bored lol. I'm just glad Nick could get individual bonding time before we move into the big part of the story. Heads up, Will is coming in the next chapter!!

Love y'all! Take care of yourselves/others.